


Alongside

by lanidae



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Kinda, Oneshot, WoL and Sophie are mentioned briefly, can't be me, imagine writing for an irrelevant and forgotten character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-21 18:06:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30025737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanidae/pseuds/lanidae
Summary: =GNB Lvl 70: Steel Against Steel Spoilers=“Well, aren’t you going to end it prisoner 1441?”As the icy grip of death grows ever tighter, the elezen commander gets all introspective about death.





	Alongside

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the quote "Perhaps it is time to see death from the other side," that Vitus says in Steel Against Steel.

Death was always a constant in the life of Vitus quo Messalla. Ever present, fingers resting gently around his neck- yet never tightening its grip. Brought bleary eyed into the world, the panicked cries of the midwives heralding the birth of a new monster. And a monster he was, relishing the sight of flesh coming undone twixt his hands. But death was a double-sided coin and at times, brief thoughts of his own end flickered through his mind, but he silenced them; he was strong, stronger than the whelps crawling on their bellies beneath him. He had no reason to fear death. Even as he lay scattered among the falling snow in the icy wastelands of Cortheas, the elezen couldn’t help but to feel a sort of trepidation, a buzz in his veins, rushing around his body and spilling out into the cold ground.

He must have been a pretty sight, Vitus thought. The strength had bled out of the commander’s body with his blood and he no longer had the energy to lift his head. Instead, his gaze drifted up towards the endless grey skies, flakes of frozen snow nestling among his eyelashes, bordering his world in a fuzzy white. It wasn’t a bad way to go, though he would have preferred a bit more of a bloodbath. At the very least he had met his end against the eikon slayer, the hero that caused the imperial prince himself to kneel and not the ever so ungrateful prisoner 1441.

The crunch of footfalls brought the Garlean out of the foggy confines of his mind. Ah, what a delight, his cognisance was already beginning to falter. With a sinking sense of disappointment, he realised it was the hrothgar. Fangs flashing white against dark fur, the former prisoner glared down at him, an expression so savage Vitus was surprised the snow around him didn’t melt from the sheer intensity of it all. Unwilling to drag the moment out any longer, he spoke, a weary sound slipping past his blood flecked lips.

“Well, aren’t you going to end it prisoner 1441?” it hurt to speak, but he kept his voice from wavering, focusing on the steady thump of his heart to dull out the pain. “You have enough of a grudge against me to finish what the prowling lion started,” The gunbreaker’s face tightened. Half delirious, he suppressed a giggle at the disgust that wormed its way into the former prisoner’s expression.  
“I will not bring myself low for you monster.” There it was again, that delightful word again. “Slaying you would be naught different from putting down a rabid dog. No, you don’t deserve such a mercy.”

“So what do you wish to do? Clad me in irons and take me away to some dark, vulgar gaol? Force a collar around my throat and punish me for my misdeeds?” Oh what irony that would be. This time the elezen couldn’t help the laugh that rang out around him, the effort of it all forcing wet coughs from his body, ending in a breathy gurgle.

The hrothgar shook his head, “No, you will be taken in as a prisoner of war, tried for your crimes and forced to repay for those lives you took.” He turned off to the side, nodding at someone- one of his companions, the viera healer as it turned out. Vitus could feel the threads of his flesh weaving back together, the tattletale thrum of healing magicks warming his wounds and muting the pain that racked his body. The icy grip of death loosened its claws around his neck and returned to its resting position, enamoured by the weak pulse in his veins. Eyelids like lead, Vitus found his consciousness slipping from gaps between his fingers, only able to form one last word with the breath that rushed out of his chest.

“Why?” he breathed out, the word getting carried away with the whipping winds as his vision faded to black. Perhaps it was not yet his time to see the other side of death; but he was not exactly disappointed. Death was a companion, yet not one he welcomed with open arms nor was it one he openly shunned. One day it would be the end of him, but until then, he walked hand in hand alongside it, drinking deep of the beauty it deigned to show him.

**Author's Note:**

> If no one produces content for your incredibly unknown and irelevant NPC then just go stupid go crazy and do it yourself.


End file.
